Bill Maher After Ben Affleck Islam Fight: 'We’re Liberals, Not Crazy Teabaggers'

There’s a difference between liberals and people in the Tea Party, Bill Maher said during an interview with Salon. For one, he says, liberals apparently are not crazy.

After he and Sam Harris got into an argument with actor Ben Affleck, where they fought over the essential nature of Islam on “Real Time With Bill Maher” Friday, the pundit did not want to elaborate about the contentious exchange during the interview. However, he did say he felt “frustrated” fighting with a fellow liberal because he felt he wasn’t being heard.

“We’re liberals! We’re liberals. We’re not crazy teabaggers, y’know, and so it’s kind of hard to be making this case -- based on facts, based on polling, I think based on what everybody really knows,” Maher told the news site Monday.

“We are not bigoted people,” he continued. “On the contrary, we’re trying to stand up for the principles of liberalism! And so, y’know, I think we’re just saying we need to identify illiberalism wherever we find it in the world, and not forgive it because it comes from [a group that] people perceive as a minority.”

Affleck appeared on the show to promote his new movie “Gone Girl,” but an argument erupted after Maher said Islam seemed to be “the only religion that acts like the mafia” and which would “f---ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture or write the wrong book.”

The actor called Maher’s comments “gross and racist” and told him he was stereotyping. Affleck argued: “How about more than a billion people who aren’t fanatical, who don’t punish women, who just want to go to school, have some sandwiches, pray five times a day, and don’t do any of the things you’re saying of all Muslims.”

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